Members of the Provincial Council of the Rural Secretariat today met with the Honourable Trevor Taylor, Minister Responsible for the Rural Secretariat, at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, Corner Brook, to discuss how citizens and government can work together to address long-term issues affecting rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Provincial Council comprises 18 citizens from all regions of Newfoundland and Labrador. The members represent each of the nine regional councils and the education, environmental, business, municipal, cultural, youth and non-profit sectors.

"The Provincial Council and the nine regional councils are about open, two-way communications between government and the people of the province," said Minister Taylor. "The Rural Secretariat and its citizen-based regional councils and Provincial Council are a structured, forward-looking way for government to engage with citizens on issues of importance to rural communities and organizations. This is a different way of doing things. Through the Rural Secretariat councils, we can have open, honest dialogue about our changing rural communities and the long-term sustainability of the province."

The role of the Rural Secretariat is to provide leadership for rural sustainability issues. It is a way to directly engage citizens in the discussion of rural policy and get feedback and input from individuals, organizations and communities as to what regions and government need to do together to sustain, in the long-term, rural areas of the province. The Rural Secretariat councils will take a long-term approach to addressing issues, rather than reactive, short-term responses, looking at such issues as the health, education, employment supports and opportunities that are needed to keep regions healthy and viable.

The Provincial Council also provided the minister with an update on the work, long-term visions and policy priorities of each of the nine regional councils of the Rural Secretariat. The regional councils are using the visions and priorities as a springboard for discussions with citizens in their communities, providing a vital link for community input.

Today, the minister and the Provincial Council discussed the introduction of a rural lens into the government decision-making process to ensure the rural impacts of all policy and program decisions are assessed and considered in a consistent, standardized way.

"Our government has made unprecedented investments into the development of rural Newfoundland and Labrador, including hundreds of millions of dollars in developing rural economic and social infrastructure," said Minister Taylor. "Rural development and impacts is something we regularly factor into our decision-making process. Virtually every government action and decision has implications for people in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. What the rural lens will do is standardize the way departments look at the impacts of policies and programs on rural areas. The rural lens is a tool that will be used within government to bring a dedicated, consistent focus to rural issues to the government decision-making processes. While all departments assess rural implications of decisions and actions, the introduction of the lens will standardize the assessment process and will provide government with better information as the basis for making decisions."

Sheila Kelly-Blackmore, chair of the Provincial Council said, "Council members are pleased with the commitment of government to sharing information, engaging citizens and building knowledge in all regions of the province. Through our work with government, we are building an informed citizens� voice to influence government to help shape rural policy and program development."

The group looks forward to participating in the fall 2007 rural conference Visions to Actions: A Roadmap to 2020 that was announced in the 2007 Speech from the Throne. The conference will provide a forum for discussion around some of the key priorities of the provincial and regional councils and enable elected officials, civil servants and community representatives to arrive at some shared agreements on next steps for development and accountability for sustainable regions. The conference will be a partnership with representation from various levels of government, Memorial University, and other related stakeholder groups.

For additional information on the Rural Secretariat, please visit the Web site at: www.gov.nl.ca/rural

-30-

Media contact:
Lynn Evans
Director of Communications
Rural Secretariat
709-729-4570, 690-6290
lynnevans@gov.nl.ca

2007 06 06                                                   12:30 p.m.